choose to love them, and then you both will be brave and free.

many a time i have been asked why i have liked bands like The All-American Rejects.

i have always responded with this: "they help me to see how i can be more free."
and it is the truth.

i don't listen to them because they have put out some songs i won't listen to, i listen to them and support them for what they have done for me as a fan.

no, no i don't agree with everything they say and everything they do. but i don't judge them for it, either. how can i? when i screw up just as much as they do.

truth is, you and i sin just as much as the next person. and all of our sins are different, but they all weigh the same. you might think yours weighs less than the woman who had an affair, but it doesn't. our lying and our worrying and our hating is just as bad as the murder. or the lust.

all sin is the same through the Jesus lenses.

this is how i am learning to see all walks of life. and believe me, i have most definitely not mastered it. but i am learning to see every person as one that God cherishes. not judging them, but loving them. because i have no right to judge.

i have recently received some judgement about the artists i choose to listen to.

i have taken away so much good from all of my favorite punk rock bands, it's amazing. it's not all bad, because no person is all wicked. we all have both dark and light in us. and we can let the bad rule out the good, or we can choose to see the good and let it out weigh the bad.

that's how Jesus sees us all and everything bad we ever did and have yet to do.

* * *

i just wanted to say that although i do not support all that my favorite bands and artists do and say, i still choose to see the good. not dismiss it all as okay and fine to do, but not being so legalistic as to hate a person because he or she chose, basically, to sin.

don't you and i do that everyday?

truth is, we've gotta love people like Jesus would love.

i have lost blog followers and friends over this topic, but it is something i feel strongly about. people have believed that i accept more than is should.

but what i want to do is look past the ugly and see the beauty.

truth is, we're all kings and queens through the eyes of our Savior.

i'm just asking you all today to try to see through a different lens next time you are tempted to judge. maybe seeing things through a different color or shade will help you to see the beauty. because it's there, you just have to find it.

as miserable as i am myself, i did find it. i found the good. and i praise God that i did.

because we're all diamonds wedged and mushed into the mud. we all could use a bit of cleaning.

and we're all the same: desperate for Grace.

none of us deserve it, but we are all given a beautiful beautiful opportunity called Christ.

you and i need it just as much as the killer. or the rapist. or the kid that skips school to use drugs.

we all need forgiveness.

choosing joy,

hannah